Three Cases of Suicide in Chinese-Canadian Women

Abstract

This article purports to draw attention to the particular phenomenology of depression and suicide in Chinese. Three case histories are presented. The patients were all women in their forties, first-generation immigrants having resided for more than 20 years in Canada. These cases illustrate the significance of certain cultural factors in the understanding of depression in Chinese patients, namely: the importance of somatization, the familial reaction of denial or rejection to mental illness, the rigidity of the traditional family structure. The authors discuss the role played by conflicts of culture in the greater vulnerability to depression in Chinese middle-aged women.